The Mask
by DarkSecretKeeper
Summary: A young Riza see's her crush, Roy Mustang, hanging out with some older girls. She decides to try and get his attention...which she does but not quite how she imagined... Set before Manga, possible spoilers and ofcourse ROYAI!


**HI! :D So this based before the manga and is focused on Riza (13) and Roy (16) while he was staying at her house as an apprentice. I got the idea when a friend of mine mentioned that Riza never seems to wear make up in the manga or anime. It's just meant to be a little bit of fluff and I realise that Riza might be a little OoC but she's a young teenage girl with a crush on a boy...I've done plenty of silly and out of character things in those situations *cringes***

**Anyway hope you enjoy it and REVIEW PLEASE :D**

**Disclaimer: I don't own FMA.**

* * *

"That'll be three sens, dear," said the woman at the fruit and veg store as she piled the six ruby red apples into a crisp paper bag. She crumpled the paper into a tight twist before handing it over the counter to the young blonde girl, who already had her hands full with her other shopping.

Riza took the bag with a timid smile and tucked it in with some other groceries. She then reached into her small leather handbag, rooting around for any change she could find to pay for the apples. When she withdrew the few coins that were left over from what her father had given her for shopping, she laid her palm flat and counted them, she then twisted her wrist around to place them into shop assistant's hand. The shop assistant smiled letting the change ring in her purse before continuing, "I make a fair profit from all the apples you keep buying!"

Riza smiled and picked her shopping up, "Well, there Mr. Mustang's favourite so I try and keep our house well stocked."

The shop assistant regarded her with a knowing eye adding, "You take good care of our boy Mustang, don't you, Riza? Never seen you so taken with one of your father's students." Riza lived in a small country town in rural Amestris and her father's alchemy students were often hot gossip, especially since they changed so often. Mustang was the latest brand of idiot to take on the apprenticeship but he had been fairing well. He had survived six months now, far longer than any of his predecessors and as much as Riza tried to hide it, she had taken quite a shine to him.

Riza's cheeks flushed and she rearranged the bags in her arms, "I just want him to feel comfortable while he studies, my father isn't the most sympathetic of hosts," and with that she quickly turned from the shop assistant and walked back on to the main road through the small town. The road was dusty and need of repair. Small potholes had begun to grow like gaping mouths in the cobbles and the houses all showed their age with peeling paint and rotting timbers. They were not a wealthy town, or a pretty town, but they got by on the small trade convoys that passed through and the odd group of tourists.

The old road branched at the mouth of the town, one led on into the expansive countryside, still cobbles with neat little dry stone walls on either side, while the second became a dirt track and swerved up a hill into dense foliage. She sighed and readjusted the bags in her arms, hoping none of them would split before she reached home, the last thing she wanted was to be chasing apples down that hill again.

Just as she was about to start along the dirt track towards home there was a large commotion from the main road. From beyond the dry stone walls and hedges came the sound of rumbustious music and laughter before finally an old truck appeared, bouncing unceremoniously along the cobbles and potholes, and going much to fast. Riza leapt to the side of her dirt track to avoid the dust and stones that would inevitably be thrown in every direction by the tyres as they desperately fought for grip on the road. To her surprise the loud truck stopped, engine heaving from over exertion and the sides trembling from the party within. The back doors flew open and out plopped a dishevelled Mustang. He fell flat on his arse laughing, his shirt was untucked and the top two buttons undone, his trousers were muddy, which made Riza sigh since she'd have to wash them, and his hair was the usual mop of black chaos. A bag flew out and landed roughly next to him on the road as he pulled himself to his feet and brushed himself off.

"You'll come again next month won't you, Roy!" asked a leggy blonde sat in the back of the truck. The music was louder now the doors were open and inside were two other guys and three girls from the village. She recognised the blonde as the butchers daughter and the brunettes were twin sisters belonging to the blacksmith. They were all older than Riza and had the physique to match. Long legs, long hair, perfect nails and pristine make-up that accentuated there voluptuous lips and flattering eye lashes.

"Anything for you Cynthia!" charmed Roy, giving them his trade mark smirk and casually swinging his bag over his shoulder. Riza rolled her eyes but remained silently in the back ground waiting for the whole scene to be over.

"Give off Mustang she's mine!" huffed one of the guys at the back, desperately pulling the girls back in the truck and slamming the doors shut. Roy just laughed and watched as the truck lurched forward and carried on into town. He sighed and began to walk up the dirt track towards his current home when his eye caught sight of Riza stood in the shadows beside the road. She was wearing a long dark brown skirt and her hair combed neatly into its usual boy cut. She was balancing four bags in her arms and gave him a small smile when she realised he was looking at her.

Roy grinned and marched up to her, taking three bags from her arms, "Here, let me help." He easily carried the bags of food as they began to ascend the hill towards the old run down house. They were silent for awhile before Riza enquired quietly, "how was your weekend in Central."

He gave a nonchalant shrug, "Good, it was nice to let off some steam, your father's a tough teacher."

Riza nodded in agreement but didn't add anything extra to the conversation. She cradled the one bag she had left, her eyes drifting to the bag of apples sat between the broccoli and the cauliflower.

"How was your weekend?" he finally asked, glancing over at her.

She looked at him, slightly shocked at the question. There was no reason why she would have been, it wasn't a weird thing to ask but she hadn't expected him to take any particular notice of her. "It was...quiet," she finally said, "I got the food shopping done for another week and I cleaned the study since you and Father were not using it this weekend."

"Oh good, hopefully you opened a window, it's terribly stuffy in there," he smiled warmly at her and she returned it with a small smile of her own. She thought he looked better when he was smiling and not smirking. She thought he looked nice full stop but she was Riza, Master's daughter, and he was Mr. Mustang, the apprentice. Furthermore, she didn't have ample breasts or curvy hips yet, she was only just thirteen as of two days ago, like those other girls he liked. She didn't even know what to say to him, he was the first boy she'd ever liked that way.

They climbed to the top of the hill and through the rusty old gate to the Hawkeye estate. The lawn was overgrown with long grass and wild flowers, the house didn't fair much better with shutters hanging loose and the paint on the door peeling. She lifted her hand to retrieve the key from her skirt pocket and opened it, it gave an almighty groan before creaking open. They fumbled into the kitchen with their bags and Roy began to help her unpack the contents of the brown paper bags.

She remained quiet and he watched her out the corner of his eye. He thought she looked really cute with her hair cut short, the other girls thought it made her look boyish but he thought the cut made her features more striking and made her look more mature and elegant. Without the long hair to distract you it was easy to get lost in Riza's eyes, something he found himself doing when she asked him what he wanted for dinner or if he needed tea before his study periods. She wore little make-up as well, another aspect he liked about her appearance.

Roy peeled back another paper bag to reveal the bag of apples, he grinned and scooped them out of the bag. He placed them in the fruit bowl, proceeding to lift one glistening red orb to his mouth. His saliva glands had already begun to prepare for the impending burst of succulent flesh when he bit into plain air. To his dissappointment and astonishment he turned and blinked at Riza who held said apple in her palm, "After dinner," she said timidly and placed the apple back with the rest of it's companions in the fruit bowl.

Roy nodded mutely and as Riza turned to start chopping vegetables for the evening meal. He looked back longingly at the apples and then turned to go to the study to prepare for when Master Hawkeye returned.

* * *

The following afternoon, Riza was cleaning one of the windows on the top floor. Her wet rag glided over the faded glass as the sun light filtered through it and illuminated the room behind her. She was humming quietly to herself, something her mother did before she died, she rarely hummed when her father was around the house. Riza had just placed the rag in her bucket to swill the dirt away when she heard a commotion outside. Leaning out the window she saw a familiar sight and her heart sank a little further. Roy was sat on a fence with two other boys she recognised from the village and three girls two years above her in school.

He was talking about something and the girls were all giggling as if perfectly conducted. There pubescent bodies were dressed in low cut evening dresses that excentuated their growing breatss and they kept flicking their long hair over their shoulders at Roy. Riza let her dirty little fingers run timidly through her own short locks, maybe if she grew it Roy would notice her more? But he would still have to wait awhile for her body to mature enough to compete with those girls. Part of her wished her father would hurry home from his research trip then Roy wouldn't have enough time to fraternize with the village locals.

She suddenly becane acutely aware that she was staring at him and to her horror, he was looking back. Roy's face was caught in a smirk as he watched the blonde girl perch with precision on the window sill and observe him and his...'friends'. She was cleaning the upstairs windows and he felt bad for messing around in the summer heat when she was inside working to maintain his current home alone. Out of all the people in the village he wanted to be spending today with her the most and so he lifted his hand and waved.

Riza's eyes widened, she felt like a rabbit caught in the head lamps and she clumsily raised her hand and waved back whilst still clutching the dirty cleaning rag. Roy chuckled at the sight and Riza blushed quickly throwing the rag on the floor as if it had bitten her. Roy pushed himself off of the fence and took two steps towards the house, angling his chest and head towards the window she was sat in, "Hey Riza! Why don't you come on down and hang out with us?" His heart leapt up into his throat at the prospect she might reject his offer.

Riza watched him closely, wandering if this was a trick, the girls either side of him were grinning mischievously and the boys looked thoroughly put out by Roy's sudden request to the village recluse but Roy's face looked open and sincere. "Um...OK," she finally called back shyly. She thought she had nothing to lose, the rest of the village thought she was weird so it couldn't get much worse. The house was pretty clean and respectable so she could take and hour or two off from chores and, most importantly, it meant spending some time with Roy.

She pushed away from the window back inside the hose and gathered her bucket and rag. She took them to the kitchen and poured the dirty water down the drain before placing the rag in the bin and swilling out the bottom of the bucket she'd been using. Riza was about to walk outside when she saw herself in the mirror. She gasped at the sight of herself, her short hair was dishevelled and she was still wearing her stained apron. She had no make-up on and so she could clearyl see alll her hormone induced spots littering her complexion. Riza looked at the sorry state and then her mind wandered to the girls outside with Roy...her mother had had make-up.

Riza quickly ran back up the stairs and to her parent's bedroom. Her mother had died a couple of years ago so only her father lived in here now. It was a plain room with a high ceiling and sash windows. The drapes were now faded since her father never bothered replacing them and the duvet covers were worn. She approached the dust sprinkled dresser and began carefully opening up the boxes and drawers. Her father had never really thrown anything away so she knew some of the items should still be here.

She pulled out a small red hand-made bag and inside were a couple of compacts, brushes and a lipstick. She heard and yelp and some giggles outside, she had to be quick or they'd think she'd chickened out. She would just apply a little so that Roy would finally see her as a young and beautiful woman...her mind began to race at thoughts of what he might say or look like when she appeared and her stomach twisted in excited knots.

Riza rubbed some peach coloured cream, which she assumed was foundation, over her pimply skin and then began applying a light blue powder to her eye lids. She'd never done this before but she'd seen the girls in town and women in magazines, how hard could it be?

Riza pulled a final brush through her hair and moved back to look at herself in the mirror and tug at her clothes to make them more presentable. She then turned and ran down stairs to join the older teens outside.

Roy was beginning to think Riza had decided not to come out. He wouldn't have blamed her, he knew she wasn't well liked because she was quiet and was from the austere Hawkeye mansion on the hill and the girls he was with were not particularly nice. He sighed, maybe it was a good thing she'd changed her mind..the last thing he would have wanted is for anyone to upset her. At that moment he heard the shutter door open behind him and the creaking of the boards on the veranda as someone walked towards them.

He grinned and turned away from his small party to greet her. His face faltered slightly and he was at a short loss for words. What had Riza done? She walked over to them, her head held high and a small smile on her VERY red lips. Her eyes had a thick coating of electric blue on them and there were mismatched dollops of mascara on her eye lashes. Her foundation was smeared unevenly over each of her cheeks and the blusher was so high, and thick, it sat just beneath her eye instead of on her delicate cheek bones.

His stomach clenched, he knew she'd done this to try and fit in and to seem older but he knew the girls would use this as ammunition and belittle her attempt at trying to conform to a social norm and fit in. The girls next to him whirled around to look at Riza and there was a moment of stunned silence before a chorus of giggles and cackles spun through the quiet country air.

Riza faltered and looked at them quizzically, the boys, that were still sat on the fence noticed and began to laugh as well. This was promptly joined by smart remarks like, "When did you join the circus, Riza?" and "You're meant to use cosmetics not wall paint on your face!"

The giggling got harder and Roy watched as Riza's head dropped and her stance changed back to her more timid posture, hands over her stomach and shoulders slouched. His jaw gritted and he turned the the hyenas next to him, "Stop it!" he snarled and they all stopped and looked at him in shock.

He heard Riza mumble, "I left the stove on," before she turned and walked briskly back to the house and shut the door behind her. Riza looked down at her hands as she stood in the hall way and desperately willed herself not to cry. She sniffed and ran upstairs to the bathroom, she shut the door behind her and sat down on the toilet seat and let a couple of tears fall unbidden from her eyes. She didn't know exactly what she'd done wrong but she knew it was something to do with the make up she was wearing. Was it in the wrong place? Too much? Or were they just not used to seeing her with make up on? Maybe she didn't suit make up? Or maybe it was because her mother's make up was really old and didn't work any more?

Riza sat on the toilet seat, scrubbing her tear streaked cheeks, unaware of the boy stood on the other side of the door. Roy heard her snivelling and, suppressing the pang of guilt he felt for her situation, lifted a hand and gently tapped on the door, "Riza?" he enquired.

Riza sat bolt upright on the porcelain throne and glanced at the door, she took and deep breath to steady her voice and then said, "Hi Roy...dinner will be ready at six." It was all she could think of to say to him. She didn't really want him here where he could see her crying from her humiliation.

Roy swallowed, he knew she wanted to be left alone but he still felt responsible for what had happened. He was about to leave, thinking that some time to clean up and calm down would be better before he broached the topic, but he stopped. She needed a friend right now, and the beautiful Riza Hawkeye was lacking in the friendship department. Quickly, so he couldn't change his mind, he turned and opened the old door to the first story bathroom.

Riza gasped and stared at his intrusion and Roy's eyes caught the full sight of her slouched over on the toilet, both hands twisted in the fabric of her skirt and mascara trickling down her young skin. She looked so lost and innocent in that moment and Roy knew exactly what to do. He walked up to the sink and began running a flannel under the hot water tap. He let in become saturated before wringing the excess watr out and brining it over to where she sat.

Riza just sat frozen as she watched the boy she had a crush on wander over and kneel before her. He lifted a gently hand, clutching the damp flannel, and began to carefully remove the clots of cosmetics still on her face. They remained in silence whilst he did his task. Every few moments he would lean across and rise the flannel before bringing it back to her face. She let him do it, just enjoying his closeness and company.

"Riza?" he murmured cautiously.

"Yes, Mr. Mustang?"

He winced slightly, "Don't call me that...it's Roy. You can call me Roy,£ he paused and looked at her before continuing, "we're friends."

Riza bit her bottom lip subconsciously and nodded, "OK..."

Roy swallowed and continued with the question he had originally wanted to ask, "Why'd you do it? Put make-up on I mean."

Riza looked at him a little taken aback, so he hadn't liked it? She felt foolish again and looked down, "because...I thought you liked girls with make-up on," she said honestly in small voice.

Roy's eyes softened and he put the towel down, so she'd done this for him? So he'd notice her, completely unaware that he noticed her even if she wasn't in the room. His thoughts were constantly wandering back to his master's daughter. Roy cupped her chin and forced her to look up at him and make eye contact. He leant in slowly and kiss her lips chastely. He hadn't kissed many girls despite his reputation and the fact he was only sixteen. "I think you're pretty," he said quietly, "I prefer you without the mask."


End file.
